John Calipari and national player of the year candidate Anthony Davis were easy preseason picks for the No. 1 spot in the SEC standings (The Associated Press)

The most surprising thing about this SEC basketball season? There have been unusually few surprises.

I didn't realize just how predictable the 2012 campaign had been until I actually went back to look at the predictions.

The media foresaw most of these results way back in October.

The only surprise -- and it was a big one -- was Tennessee. The Volunteers were picked to finish in 11th place, and that looked like a solid guess for much of the year. But freshman Jarnell Stokes arrived and the Vols finished the season on an 8-1 run. Thanks to a complex three-way tiebreaker, they actually got the No. 2 seed in this week's SEC tournament.

No other team overachieved its preseason expectations by more than one spot in the standings.

Who underachieved? There were no major drops, but a few minor falls. The media picked the Arkansas Razorbacks to finish sixth; they finished ninth. Georgia was picked to finish eighth; the Bulldogs were in 10th place but got the 11th seed.

The top and bottom of the standings were the easiest. Kentucky, a unanimous first-place pick, went 16-0. South Carolina, a nearly unanimous last-place pick, went 2-14.